“For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.”

– 2 Chronicles 30:9b

Teshuva. Return to the Lord.

I was first introduced to this word around 2008. My life was spiritually in shambles, deep confusion. It is not your ordinary word “return.” But one that God used to cry out for His people… who were in the fold, but then turned away to other idols when things became difficult or did not go their way.

It’s the same word used in 2 Chron 7:14-15 in God’s discourse with Solomon which declares: “IF MY PEOPLE, WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and TURN from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I WILL FORGIVE their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now MY EYES WILL BE OPEN AND MY EARS ATTENTIVE to the prayers offered in this place.”

In finishing my book, The Goat Generation, this topic came up as I saw Solomon’s life shift from sheep to goat and back to sheep. My God…

TESHUVA, COME BACK

TESHUVA is the Word that encompasses COME BACK WITH REPENTANCE, TURN AWAY FROM SIN, COME BACK FOR RESTORATION, ETC. While the Greek word for return has specific contexts, it BEHOOVES US not to disregard the BIG PICTURE of returning.

Why? Because it doesn’t negate the purity and fullness of what God wants from us. It doesn’t change His requirements. It does not shift WHO HE IS as the source of all… as our God.

What it does, however, is remind us of His preeminence, His requirements even now… and this great mercy He has for us.

We are not in a season of returning, teshuva! Why? Because this desire OF GOD is constant, never-ending for those who long to hear, to see… who are looking for that open door in themselves… to get back to THE VERY SOURCE OF GOD, THE FATHER OF ALL within them that Jesus Christ came to ensure access to.

This morning, as it always happens, I awoke just before the sunrise to these words: “MANY OF MY PEOPLE ARE EXPERIENCING A RETURN.”

THE RETURN, FINALITY

This return is not man-made. It is not controlled by the narratives of popularity, some good book written by a famous Christian, or even led by a favorite pastor or denomination.

This return is led by a deep, DEEP awakening within based on a cry to know the God of the Word, the Christ of our salvation. This RETURN is a finality that can only be released from the future-past of God and understood within the depths of internal revival, not visible by people alone… but walked out with God within the depths of our breath, life.

This RETURN leaves Him at the center: not family, not friends… not anyone but Him.

1 Peter 2:25 declares, “For you were continually straying like sheep, BUT NOW YOU HAVE RETURNED TO THE SHEPHERD AND GUARDIAN of your souls.”

Luke 15:20 declares, “So he got up and came to his father. BUT WHILE HE WAS STILL A LONG WAY OFF, HIS FATHER SAW HIM and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”

These passages are about understanding OUR decision TO RETURN. They are about clearing OUR hearts, making up OUR minds, and coming before God prepared for the kind of transformation He seeks in us, not our own.

RETURN TO THE LORD.

“For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.” 2 Chronicles 30:9b

RETURN. IN JESUS NAME.